what do I do now?

First, know this: YOU NEVER HAVE TO BE ALONE AGAIN!

Recovery for each of us began only when we were able to reach out and ask others for help. In almost every case, this was most difficult at first but, over time, has become an essential component of our continuing recovery.

There are countless others in the area who are willing to help. All one has to do is ask.

GO TO MEETINGS: Every day of the year, early morning, afternoon, evenings and even late at night, there is help in the form of meetings for you and for every alcoholic who wants help.

GO TO AS MANY MEETINGS AS YOU CAN.

Use this website's meeting database (or the printed version obtainable on meeting literature tables) to find meetings in the area.

Call us at (330)- 270-3000 if you would like to talk to someone.

A.A. does not promise to solve your life's problems. But we can show you how we are learning to live without drinking.

am I an alcoholic?

Nobody in A.A. is able to answer this question definitively. The only person who is truly able to determine this is you.

What we can say concerning this very personal decision, is that we were all faced with one, if not both of the following:

"If , when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic."

Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 4, Page 44

"Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."

"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed."

Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 3, Page 30

"The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.